I caught a clip of an episode of Pawn Stars on YouTube. This young kid, maybe early 20s, walks in with a really badly "restored" three hundred year old flintlock pistol. He asks five hundred for it.
It had a broken hammer spring, the brass parts were painted gold, the wood was painted brown, and the steel parts were painted silver. Rick brings in an expert who says, right in front of the customer, that it will cost a thousand to properly restore it, but then after that, it would be worth at least $3,000.00. Rick then offers the kid $100.00, but eventually agrees to $150.00. Deal. He has it restored by the expert for (presumably) $1,000.00, and is then in possession of a gun worth at least $3,000.00. Actually, later (after the restore), the expert tells him it's actually worth $5,000.00.
I get that it's a dog eat dog world out there, but man, that seems like a total, intentional, rip off of the seller. Then again, the seller should have been smart enough to turn to the expert and ask him if he will restore it for him for $1,000.00, and then sell it for $3,000.00. Better yet, he should have asked the expert if he would like to buy it for $2,000.00, or some approximation of same.
